Trillanes: Mocha Uson’s posts motivated by malice, hatred

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson tried to project him as a “corrupt” public official based on Facebook posts “motivated by malice, bad faith, if not outright hatred.”

In a 20-page complaint-affidavit filed before the Office of the Ombudsman Friday, Trillanes said Uson’s posts and “derogatory articles” can be traced from the fact that the senator is one of the vocal critics of President Rodrigo Duterte, “to whom she (Uson) is indebted for her appointment in government.”

Uson in statement has said that she would answer Trillanes allegations in due time. She said she had yet to receive a copy of the complaints filed against her.

Trillanes accused Uson of three counts of libel based on the latter’s posts on the Facebook page Mocha Uson Blog.

In one of the posts, which has already been taken down, Uson shared a publication of Davao Breaking News – 2 detailing the supposed foreign accounts Trillanes owns. Uson said: “Alleged tagong yaman ni Trillanes. Tingnan natin kung ilalabas ito ng GMA News ABS-CBN News News5 CNN Philippines Rappler INQUIRER.net.”

Trillanes noted that “shortly thereafter, almost as if on cue,” Duterte also accused him of having offshore bank accounts.

In a Facebook post, Mocha earlier told Trillanes to look up the word “alleged” indicating that the details of the bank accounts she shared was the claim of the Davao Breaking News.

A separate post of Uson read: “Sinabi mismo ni PRRD na mayroong bank deposits si Trillanes sa iba’t ibang bansa. Panoorin.”

Another post said: “Kung sino ang namimintang sa Pangulo at sa kanyang pamilya tungkol sa tagong yaman, tila siya ang may tinatago.”

“Respondent Uson is trying to cast aspersion at the honor, dignity, and/or integrity of undersigned as a public servant and is trying to project him as ‘corrupt’ on the basis of nothing else but false and/or fabricated documents,” Trillanes said.

For performing at a casino in Pasay City, Uson was also accused of grave misconduct, and violation of the Code of Ethics and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees [Sec. 7(B)(2)], as well as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act [Section 3(e)].

"Yung kanyang continued practice ng kanyang profession. Yung pagperform, bawal yun. At manager siya ng mocha girls. Hind puwede yun. As a government official, isa lang dapat yung trabaho mo, isa lang dapat ang source of compensation unless specifically authorized by law," Trillanes said.

Trillanes said Uson should be dismissed and perpetually disqualified from public office.

"As a responsible senior government official, mas mataas ang standards natin, di ba? Dapat vine-verify yung truthfulness bago tayo mag-share," Trillanes said in an interview after filing the complaint.

In a statement, Uson said she will answer the complaints filed by Trillanes.

“Right now we don't have a copy of it yet. Suffice it to say we are confident that this has been filed out of pique and we are ready for anything,” Uson said.

Earlier this week, Trillanes went to Singapore to debunk claims that he maintains accounts with the DBS Bank. A branch manager told Trillanes that there are no DBS accounts under his name.

Duterte claimed he gave the wrong account number to fool Trillanes.

"Wala ito. Produkto ng isip ko ito. Tinanggalan ko talaga. Ginamit mo. Nag-issue ka ng waiver... Iba ang account number, iba ang totoo," he said.

Trillanes had already signed bank secrecy waivers covering all account numbers he is being accused of owning by the Facebook page Davao Breaking News - 2, and was shared by Uson, as well as journalist Erwin Tulfo. —NB, GMA News